Misha Malik’s PLAB 1 Experience

(This post was originally published on 17th December 2016. It was added to my blog by taking permission from the writer. Thank you, Dr. Misha Malik, for allowing me to add your post to this blog)

Well, hello again.

I have been getting loads of messages regarding my plab 1 preparation, by Grace of Almighty, Alhamdulillah I passed my plab 1 in the first attempt.

Just like all of you, I was super confused regarding my prep and what material to use. and yes I did struggle.

Luckily, I was approached by Sadaf (my plab partner), we started studying combine on whatsapp calls , starting with 1700 sush unity, chapter/ unit wise along with the topics done from oxford handbook of clinical medicine.

reading and listening turn by turn .

Studying from oxford books is totally up to you but i preferred knowing the topic ,not just the Q.

The best thing about sush unity is that she has added oxford pages at the end of answers, but as we were over enthusiastic we did open the book, and we followed merged 1700 too for some units. it took us a month roughly.

Nephro; 2 days

Resp; 2 days

CVS; 3 days

GIT; 2 days

ENT; 2 days

CNS; 2 days

Obs-gym; 4 days

Surgery; 2 days

Eye; 2 days

Psychiatry; 2 days

Rheumatology; 2 days

Ortho; 2 days

Paeds; 2 days

Endocrinology; 2 days

infectious diseases; 2 days

Haematology; 2 days

Dermatology; 2 days

anatomy plus misc; 2 days

Emergencies; 2 days

medical ethics; 2 days

Biostatistics; 2 days

For the second reading, we did sush 1700 again but this time with Samson notes.

FOR ethics and biostatistics, pass medicine was enough.

PLEASE DONT FOLLOW THE NOTES BLINDLY AS THERE CAN BE MANY MISTAKES.

I also followed RXPG along with SUBSCRIPTION TO PASS MEDICINE (solved about 1500 random Qs).

Third time I did sush 1700 again but a little faster with Samson notes. I also subscribed to PLABABLE (best site ever), similar to 1700 and reliable answers.

I was also an Admin rather a Dictator (they hate me ) of a WhatsApp group.Tried to share and discuss as many questions as possible .i participated a lot, shared mnemonics n controversial points.

This FB group has been a blessing too.just put the question number in the search bar and VOILAAAA !! years of discussions and arguments under your feet .lol.

Lastly, in the last 15 days, I couldn’t study a word alone (ideally, i should have been doing mocks but I couldn’t ) so, I joined SWAMMY ACADEMY for mocks.

ONE OF THE BEST DECISION ever as Dr.Lakhsmi was love and the discussion helped me remember the main points along with the Revision . each McQ was discussed and explained, each mock was about 25 pounds and even the online class was worth it. I did about 8-10 mocks. Yes, the MCQs were repeated on the exam day, They were similar to 1700.

Don’t waste your time on confusing Qs. the most reliable source is patient.co.uk or just search the NICE guidelines.